Seen a Rogue on the loose? Get in touch with our Roguemeister: JOHN SCHRAG jschrag@wweek.com (503) 243-2122 FAX: (503) 243-1115 For sheer arrogance, this week's Rogue, The United States Olympic Committee, wins a gold medal. It's not because the heavily subsidized gravy-trainers sent a squad of NBA stars to victimize the likes of Lithuania (a two-point Team USA victory!), or even for the mind-numbing jingoism of the three-week steroid-fest, but for bullying a local business that dared use the word "Olympic" in its name. Gerry Langler, a partner in the Portland office of Olympic Venture Partners, says his firm received such a letter last week. "At first we said, 'They can't be serious,'" says Langler, whose firm provides seed money to start-up companies and has used the name for 15 years. Langler consulted a lawyer, assuming that the USOC was just being a nuisance. The firm's attorney, however, delivered bad news. "Our counsel said you could fight them but it would be expensive and you'd lose," Langler says. "Apparently Congress granted the USOC extremely broad protection on its trademark." A check of the Portland phone book yielded 20 other companies that use the word Olympic in their names (Seattle has a gold-medal-winning 139). Contacted by WW, the owners of Portland's Olympic Graphics and Seattle's Olympic Tug and Barge, both of which have used the name for more than a decade, reported they hadn't heard yet from the USOC. "Don't tell 'em we're out there," begged Rod Gullickson, an owner of the tug and barge operation. Officials at the USOC offices in Colorado Springs, Colo., referred all questions to USOC staff in Sydney, who couldn't be reached. As for Olympic Venture Partners, the firm plans to change its name. Langler warns that other companies may encounter similar demands. "Those other folks ought to be looking over their shoulder," he says. "There seems to be an entirely new attitude toward the use of the word Olympic."